2G trial: Court set to record statements of Essar Group, Loop Telecom

With the conclusion of recording of prosecution evidence by the Special CBI court in the second 2G case, involving promoters of the Essar Group, Loop Telecom and others, the court will now proceed with the recording of statements of the accused in the case.

Last month, the court concluded recording of prosecution evidence in a more high profile 2G spectrum case involving former telecom minister A Raja and 16 others. The special CBI court will begin recording their statements from 20 January.

In the case involving the Essar group, the CBI examined 95 witnesses and recorded over a 1000 pages of evidence in the one-and-a-half years since trial began.

The recording of the statements of the accused in the case - Essar group promoters Anshuman and Ravi Ruia and Loop Telecom promoters Kiran Khaitan and IP Khaitan and Group Director Vikash Saraf - have been fixed by the court for 20 February.

The companies and their promoters have been charged with cheating and criminal conspiracy with respect to the allotment of spectrum. The charge-sheet was filed in December 2011 and trial began in June 2012.

Earlier this month, Loop Telecom moved the special CBI court for a ‘settlement’ of the case. According to PTI, the court issued notices to the CBI and the Department of Telecommunication seeking their replies to Loop Telecom Limited plea and fixed the matter for hearing on 20 February.

The case. involving Raja and DMK MP Kanimozhi and 15 others that include top executives of Reliance ADA Group, will resume next month. After examining 153 witnesses and 4,406 pages of evidence recorded, the CBI concluded its case on 27 November. (Read more here .)